so this is what i get for offering to do my brother's wedding cake! he is getting married in october and i am also a bridesmaid in the wedding. the problem i am really having is with the timing of the construction of the cake.

based on the timing of appointments that day and when i can get into the reception site, i either have to stack the whole 4-tier cake the night before (6:30 reception) or do it in 2 sections with 2 tiers and then put the whole thing together on-site. If the full cake gets stacked the night before, can it sit for at least 24 hours stacked (very stable support system) or is that dangerous?

i don't have a lot of experience with stacked cakes, so any advice you can offer would be great!

I nearly always stack the night before. Then i pop the whole cake in the fridge and when it comes time to deliver just pop that cake in to as cold a vehicle that i can get and off we go. I haven't had a problem yet. And as long as you can carry the 4 tiers go ahead and get all that done, you will have enough to do the day of the wedding, you certainly don't need to be worrying about finishing the cake.

If it's very stable I think it should be fine - I wouldn't want to wait until the day of to stack anyway.

I stack on-site all the time, but last week I had a 5-tier cake (looks like a wedding dress) that HAD to be assembled ahead of time so the fondant could be draped over the whole thing. It sat assembled on my counter for 2 days while I worked on it and while it waited for delivery. You're right ... the support system is the key.

thank you all so much! i feel MUCH better knowing that the cake should be fine and i won't have to run around like a crazy person the day of the wedding!

Indybebi,

What do you fill your cakes with when you stack 2 days ahead of time? I am not referring to something that has to be refrigerated. I made a cake two weeks ago - a 6 & 10 inch WASC and put raspberry filling in between the torted layers (raspberry preseves mixed with dry raspberry jello). I put the cake together on Monday morning before I left for work and crumb coated it and then iced with BC and put the fondant on it Monday night. Decorated it on Tuesday night as it was needed for Wednesday. I was there when the cake was cut and the raspberry soaked into the layers. I didn't like the way it looked.

My next cake 6 inch layer is chocolate and 10 inch layer is Orange Dreamscicle. I don't know what kind of filling to use. I need to put it together on a Friday, decorate it on Saturday and then transport it 2 hours on Sunday. Do all fillings soak into the cake to some degree if put together 2 days ahead. I have back issues and at times I can't do it all in one day.

Your opinion would be greatly apprecaited. I was thinking of using a choc BC for the Dreamscicle and an orange flavored icing made with Betttercreme for the chocolate one.

I use the sleeved fillings, when filling with raspberry or other fruit flavors, and use my regular BC icing for white icing filling, or the Hershey icing recipe (on the can) for chocolate). I'll mix chocolate icing and sleeved raspberry filling for a great taste combo!

None of this requires refrigeration. The sleeved filling doesn't soak into the cake (I cut most of my cakes, so I see it first hand).

IndyDebi--I agree--The Hershey cho frosting recipe is wonderful!!!!

You just gave me a great title for a story. "the Bridesmaid and the Cake Decorator" I will have to get started writing this one. lol

Hey, I just wanted to add another example. I don't have pics yet (daughter took digital to FLA and I have to (gulp!) develop FILM!) but it was a 4-tier cake that I stacked at about noon on Friday. Decorated it, ran a center dowel down the center and moved it to a table at about 3:00, where it sat until I delivered it at 3:30 on Saturday. AND ..... ! When I leave the shop, I set the AC to about 80 degrees (not paying to cool a shop when I'm not there!). Cake held up just fine.

So a cake that is assembled on a table 24 hours in advance won't get up and walk away, won't try to do a hula dance when you leave, or anything. It will set there just fine!

As I tell my clients, "It sits on your counter or it sits on mine, it makes no difference to the cake."

This might be a stupid question but what is "sleeved" filling??

It's filling made for cakes, VERY shelf stable (3-6 months on the pantry shelf).

http://countrykitchensa.com/catalog/SearchResults.aspx Put the word "filling" in the search box at the top.

I just did this! I was a bridesmaid in my hubby's cousin's wedding and I did the cake. I skipped out on quite a few things in the days leading up to the wedding and I did not arrive w/ the party, I arrived early and set it up. It all worked out though.

I always put a thin layer of buttercream and then the raspberry sleeve filling on top of that, never had it soak into the cake

I've never had the sleeve fillings soak into the cake. I cut most of my own cakes, so I see it firsthand. The type of cake or cake recipe may make a difference.

A few times, I've cut cakes in which the baker put a layer of BC then a layer of fruit filling and the cake was "slippery". If you do this, be careful as it could promote a "slider" cake during transport. (Had one that it was even hard just to cut it ..... I cut the 2" strip and the top layer was practically sliding off of the cake before I could cut the 1" pieces.)